Lisa and I tackled Mount Washington for the first time in October 2004 by taking the Auto Road during our first fall foliage trip together, 15 years ago.

This year (2019), we finally decided to take the Cog Rail to the summit of Mount Washington. Lisa knows I prefer a steam engine over diesel any day, so she booked the first trip of the day (7:30 AM, ouch..)

The only real difficulty I had was in deciding WHEN to do it. We had reservations each weekend in other areas of New England, so it was either, to come over from Maine during the 6-8 of October or do it the following weekend 13-15 October. I did not want to do a 2 hour trip from Maine to arrive at 7:30 AM so I settled for the 13-15th and I felt this would be later than I would have liked.

I was hoping there would be good if not peak fall color in the valley below Mount Washington but while not peak there was a little, but most of the color had run off the artist’s palette proceeding down through Crawford Notch to North Conway, and other points south.

In fact, the most red I could see in the valley was the red metal roof of the Mount Omni Hotel which is visible on the way up the mountain, seen later in this article.

Arrival at the Cog Rail Base Station

We arrive on a cool morning with little cloud cover out away from “The Mountain” but as with the place with the worst weather on earth, we found…

Even from a distance with the sun coming up, I could see that the summit was blocked from view by the clouds. We got checked in and waited for them to bring the steam train up for her first run of the day. It’s about an hour-long trip up and 40 minutes falling back down the mountain.

Steam Vs. Diesel

It may not really matter to most folks, but most people I talk to want to be on the steam engine. The Cog Rail has several diesel engines to make the trip up the mountain and in fact, one engine is brand new. These engines burn bio-diesel fuel and are more Eco-friendly.

The Steam engines are original in that they work the way the first ones did. The engineer shovels coal into the firebox which boils the water to drive the engine and car to the top and back down. But sadly, only a couple of these old original steam engines remain. Here is a link to a video of the diesel engine bringing a car forward to load passengers.

I had asked Lisa to make the reservations while I went off to work knowing she knew my preference to take the steam engine even though it meant WE had to get up well before dawn (not her favorite pastime, I love my wife…!). 🙂

The train left the station on time, and while we were on the way up, the brakeman narrated all the background info on the Cog Train. If your balance is an issue, you won’t be wanting to get up and walk around. The engine and passenger car make the trip straight up the mountain and the floor angle varies from a 25 to 37-degree slant. Once we were on our way, they did allow us to get up a few at a time to photograph out the front door.

We also could photograph out the back windows but even though I was shooting through glass, I got a few decent shots. This is not a smooth ride and the cogs are constantly jostling the car. I did find it interesting to see the Mount Omni Hotel from the slope of Mount Washington.

Unfortunately, the peak fall color that surrounded the hotel only a few days before is now past, but it makes for an interesting image.

Reaching the Alpine Range

Soon the trees got shorter, and then they faded away, till all we had was rocks and grasses. Soon the grasses would fade away also, only to be found in niches hidden from the winds that scour the top of Mount Washington. I didn’t really understand what I would be seeing in the “frozen fog” at the summit.

As we left the train, and the wind whipped past us, it gave us a first-hand example of what it was like to work up here on Mount Washington.

At the summit, most of the passengers ran for the shelter of the building (Lisa being one), but being a photographer means I have to explore this for as long as I could take it. Down in the 55 degrees of the valley, the 30+ MPH winds are merely an annoyance. But up here at 6,288 feet, it can become dangerous.

The windchill was somewhere around zero (or lower) and bare skin in the freezing fog was liable to get frostbite if I wasn’t careful.

You can see the other gentleman in this video was not prepared but he made it to the summit sign and then ran inside.

I was lucky I shot my video first because my phone battery which was full when I left on this trip an hour before was gone after 15-20 min in the frigid cold so I relied on my Canon camera for much of the rest of my photography.

We explored the visitor’s center and got some hot chocolate and split a maple moon pie. All too soon we were on the way back down and I was trying to figure out should the camera be level to the horizon or should it be level to the mountain to show the difference. Well, this is a little of both angles… Level to the mountainside or level to the horizon, which do you like?

We had some time at the summit, and we headed out for a slow route home. We took with us so many memories of this trip. Just a few miles south of here in Crawford Notch, we found “Peak Fall Colors” as we headed south on Route 302. But my favorite memory will be the following.

I like to think of this as any morning at the top of Mount Washington. Where the weather is always questionable and it’s always a wonderful experience! I hope you have a wonderful foliage day!

Jeff Foliage Folger

Autumn is a state of mind more than a time of year – Jeff Foliage

Visit my Amazon affiliate store for items that Lisa and I have curated for you. These items are either New England-made or things we think will make your fall foliage trip more successful.

• Visit my Fine Art America Gallery
• Visit my Amazon store to pick up New England-related materials
• Visit my Pictorem Gallery (Free shipping in the US and Canada)
• My Facebook foliage page
• Threads.net/@Jeff_Foliage
• Follow our new Fall Foliage FB Group!
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Pinterest
• You can visit Lisa’s Artist Facebook Page by clicking here